The outliner filter reshapes your whole outline down to just the tasks you care about right now — while keeping each one in its place in the tree, so you never lose the thread of what belongs to what. Type a word or two (or an @bucket, or a type:), and everything that doesn’t match quietly steps aside. What’s left is a focused, working view of your world that you can actually get things done in.
It’s the difference between searching your outline and reshaping it.
Filtering @today across a busy outline: only today’s tasks remain, each still tucked under its (dimmed) project so you know exactly where it belongs.
Filter vs. Find — two different jobs
Find (⌘F) answers “where is that one task?” — it highlights matches and walks you between them.
Filter (⌘ShiftF) answers “show me this slice of my world” — it hides everything that doesn’t match so you can work inside the result.
Already searching and realise you’d rather see them all at once? Press Tab in the Find bar to turn your search straight into a filter.
Opening the filter
Three ways in:
- Press ⌘ShiftF / CtrlShiftF
- Click Filter on the Task Outliner Toolbar
- From an open Find bar, press Tab (“Filter to these”)
Type your query and the outline reshapes as you go. Press Escape any time — from the filter box or from anywhere in the outline — to cancel the filter and return to your full outline, right where you left your cursor.
What you can filter by
Type any mix of these, separated by spaces:
| You type | It keeps | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a word | tasks whose title contains it | invoice |
| several words | tasks whose title contains all of them | send invoice |
@bucket | tasks in that bucket | @today @next @later @inbox @reference |
type: | tasks of that kind | type:project type:folder type:event type:info type:task |
The rule of thumb: the same kind of tag widens, different kinds narrow.
@today @next→ tasks that are today or next (either bucket)@today type:event→ tasks that are today and an event (a meeting today)budget @reference→ your budget notes: contains “budget” and filed under reference
Whatever matches is shown with the projects and folders that contain it — dimmed, as context — so a single result deep in your outline still tells you exactly where it lives.
A stable place to work, not just a search
This is the part that makes the filter feel different from a search box: the filtered view holds still while you work in it.
When you set a filter, MakeTimeFlow works out the visible structure once. From then on you can rename tasks, change their buckets, mark them done, and move them around — and the view stays put. Nothing vanishes or rearranges itself under your hands. It only rebuilds when you change the query (or clear it).
That means you can:
- Reorder what you see. With a filter on, ⌘↑ / ⌘↓ moves a task relative to the tasks you can actually see — hidden ones settle around it. Move a task out of its project and the project stays on screen; it doesn’t disappear mid-move.
- Watch your progress. Filter to
@today, then complete a task or push one to@later. It stays in view — a satisfying record of what you’ve handled — until you re-run the filter and it drops away. - Re-file freely. Reparenting with ⌘/ works exactly as always, even to a project that’s currently hidden.
To see a match's hidden subtasks
Filtering hides anything that didn’t match — including a matching task’s own non-matching subtasks. To see them, just change or clear the filter. The view is deliberately quiet: what you see is what matched.
Solving real work problems
The filter earns its keep when your outline is big. A few ways it turns a wall of tasks into a clear next move:
“I have hundreds of tasks. What am I actually doing today?”
Filter @today. Every task you’ve committed to for today appears — each still nested under its project, so you can see at a glance that three are for the Acme deal and two are personal. This is a lovely companion to your BeginWell ritual: filter to today, and you’re looking at exactly the day you set for yourself.
“Everything about the Acme deal — wherever it’s hiding.”
Filter acme. It pulls every mention together — the intro email in Fundraising, the investor call in Meetings, the follow-up buried three levels deep — each shown with its home project. One glance and you have the whole thread, without hunting folder by folder.
“What meetings do I have coming up?”
Filter type:event for all of them, or @today type:event for just today’s. Your calendar events surface out of wherever they live in the outline.
“My inbox is a mess and I want to sort it out.”
Filter @inbox. Everything you’ve captured but not yet triaged lines up together. Re-bucket each into @today / @next / @later, or re-file it under the right project — and because the view holds still, you can watch the pile shrink as you go. When you’re done, clear the filter and your inbox is clear too.
“It’s WRAP time — what’s on deck for next week?”
Filter @next. Your whole @next list gathers in one place, across every project, so your WRAP planning is a scan instead of a scavenger hunt. Sharpen the list, move the winners up to @today, and you’ve planned your week.
“I need to reorganise this quarter’s priorities without the noise.”
Filter to @today (or a project name), then use ⌘↑ / ⌘↓ to put the important few in order. You’re arranging only the tasks that matter, undistracted by the fifty you’ve parked in @later — and the structure around them stays intact.
“Where did I put that reference doc?”
Filter type:info to see just your kept-not-to-do notes, or add a word — type:info budget — to land on the one you mean.
Combine the filter with Focus In
Already zoomed into one project with Focus In? The filter works inside that scope — so
@todayinside your “Product” subtree shows only that project’s today tasks. Two tools, one focused view.
Good to know
- The filter is temporary — it clears when you reload or press Escape. It’s a lens, not a saved view.
- It never changes your tasks — filtering only hides and reveals. Nothing is deleted, moved, or re-bucketed unless you do it.
- Unknown tags (like a made-up
type:whatever) are simply treated as words to match, so a stray tag never leaves you staring at an empty outline by accident. - The filter lives in the outliner. For the list and table views, see Task Filters in Flow and Finding Tasks.
Related
- Task Outliner Shortcuts — every outliner shortcut, including Filter and Find
- Task Outliner Toolbar — the same commands as buttons
- Task Trust System — what the
@today/@next/@laterbuckets mean - Tasks, Projects, Folders, and Info — the node types you can filter by with
type: - The Zen Workflow — how filtering fits your daily and weekly rhythm